So I dont believe in free will ,through a combination of experience and events in my life(most to do with leaving religion) however like most, I recognise the need for the concept of free will, as artificial as it may be
But where to draw the line. Obviously, even for people that believe in free will, where they draw there line is different among each other e.g across cultures, generation and among individual, but what do you do when you know that line is just artificial.
For example, alots people say that trauma doesn’t excuses abuse, only contextualise, it but if you have statical evidence that a large or even most of abusers have been abused/been through a traumatic event that is by defined an excuse.
There is one of those motivational stories that goes something like this:
two twin brothers that grew up together with the same upbringing, have lead vastly different lives, one become a wife beater and acholoic with no job like his father and another become a successful man. Its meant to show that people can choose their future despite where they came from.
But, the difference between the twins had to have been caused by something, otherwise there is no free will, but if it was caused by something, then it was something outside their control, and your back at square one.
Free will is a paradoxical concept, it necessities that there is some mysterious force inside people’s mind that we can never see or explain that guides their decisions, that is influence but directly effect by the environment.
Most of my decisions I never predicted even with my current believe. But I can explain and see where most of my actions came from.
Not being able to see the future 100% isn’t prove that free will exist. I have been baffled some of choice of people around, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad.
A person has no more free will than a rock because both are governed by the most important rule of the universe, cause and effect.
Of course none of this is important really, like I said I still go through like there is still is free will. It just all interesting to think about